Physician’s Career Centered Around Giving Back

William Dolan, MD, entered the field of medicine to help others. He has performed surgeries in the Amazon, served in the U.S. Armed Forces and, most recently, helped students pursue their medical school dreams.

“I feel so grateful that I have been blessed with family, faith and country, as well as the skills to make a difference,” he said. “My biggest accomplishment is making a positive difference with the healing touch.”

Dr. Dolan — a faculty member, who's active in Case-Based Instruction and the anatomy lab, and who previously served as a career and professional advisor in Student Affairs at the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix — generously made a $25,000 donation and an additional $25,000 pledge to the college for student scholarships with his wife, Kari.

“It’s an important way to give back and say ‘Thank you,’ ” he said. “It supports students and gives hope to the next generations of physicians we so desperately need.”

Dr. Dolan has always been interested in science and medicine. He still has the drawing of the different organ systems with its multiple transparencies that fascinated him when he was six years old. He pulled the drawing out of his family’s home encyclopedia.

But he pursued medicine because he wanted to work with Phoenix-based Esperanca, which had begun a medical project for residents of the Amazon region of Brazil.

“I chose surgery, as I felt I could do the most good in an austere environment, especially for the two medical emergencies that the traditional healer could not treat: obstructed labor and obstructed hernia,” he said.

In 1979, after a five-year general surgery residency at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Milwaukee, Dr. Dolan moved to Santarem, Para, Brazil, on the Tapajos River where he lived for six years as part of Esperanca, providing care to communities facing a multitude of health disparities. He did a great deal of primary care and family practice with a special emphasis on preventive measures, such as immunizations, education about clean water and breast-feeding support.

As Esperanca's program director for 15 years, Dr. Dolan also coordinated the many volunteer surgery teams from all over Arizona and the U.S. that traveled to Brazil. He performed general surgery and when needed, anesthesia care.

“It’s a privilege to do this type of work,” Dr. Dolan said. “Sometimes you have to pay to do it and not get paid. It is a tremendous honor to come into these people’s lives and to care for them.”

Dr. Dolan worked with surgical teams doing cleft lip repairs, hysterectomies, cholecystectomies and more. Many of the patients earned less than a $1 a day, so they couldn’t afford these types of operations.

“Everyone involved in this healing work found it extremely rewarding,” he said. “After our operations, the elderly blinded by cataracts could see, those with painful hernias were cured and children with cleft lip deformities received a new, beautiful face. It is indeed more blessed to give than to receive.”

He recalled treating a child with a cleft lip. In an hour, the operation was completed, and the child had what looked like a new face. His mother said in Portuguese, “My God, my God, it’s a miracle.” Dr. Dolan said moments like that made it worthwhile.

“We were helping a community and making a huge difference,” Dr. Dolan said. “We not only treated the patient, but trained the locals to hopefully take over and do this on their own. That’s an important component with international work.”

Dr. Dolan completed 15 years of international health work with Esperanca, then began working for the Phoenix VA Health Care System in 1989. He served as chief of surgery for 13 years and retired from full-time work in 2011.

At the age of 44, he joined the U.S. Army, then transferred to the U.S. Navy in 2000. In 2015 he retired from the Navy, which included a tour in Afghanistan in 2013.

“The idea of service and helping our troops in a hostile and adverse environment was very important to me,” he said. “The challenge was there and it was stepping up to the plate and doing my job for our country.”

When asked about the most successful part of his career, Dr. Dolan said he is thankful that he has been able to provide the healing touch to so many people through medicine.